Louise Delamere (Lia) No Angels On Life The Show And The RCN

The first series of No Angels proved a hit with critics and viewers alike. The show’s irreverent take on the life and loves of four nurses in Leeds was entertaining, witty, and risqué. The fact that the four featured nurses were cardiac-arrestingly gorgeous was, of course, irrelevant, though it’s true that women wanted to be them and men wanted to that women wanted to be them. The show got re-commissioned, the format was sold to America, and everyone was happy.Well, not quite everyone.The Royal College of Nursing suggested that the show was 'a missed opportunity' to show what nursing was about. It’s true that the programme doesn’t focus on the daily grind of nursing, the various complicated situations and pressures nurses face, or their struggle for the recognition and salary that they doubtless deserve, but Louise Delamere, who plays Lia Costoya, says that’s missing the point.I think you’ve got so many other shows where nursing is very, very well represented. In that context, I think being up in arms about No Angels was a complete over-reaction. It’s not really about what they do as nurses, it’s more who they are as people. They just happen to be nurses. It’s a comedy drama, not a documentary it’s not trying to be realistic, and it never set out to be.In other words, you might as well criticise Button Moon for being an unrealistic depiction of space travel. Indeed, according to Delamere, most nurses she’s spoken to actively enjoyed the programme. What happens is that off-the-record, people say very different things to what they say officially. Most nurses who I come into contact with seem to really like it they take it for what it is, which is a piece of fun with occasional deeper moments in it. Delamere’s best friend is a nurse (She thinks it’s really funny) and it soon becomes apparent that she has a great deal of respect for those in the profession. Before the first series, she and the other stars shadowed nurses to get an idea of life on the ward. I found it really humbling, because they work so hard, and because of the things they have to do. Everyone knows the plight of nurses. It’s impressive I couldn’t believe how tired we were just following them around. They properly work very hard, and it’s very impressive to witness it.

Although she’d rightly balk at the comparison with nursing, Delamere stresses that filming the series is no picnic either. The days are long, and free time is at a premium. The cast are all put up in flats in the same block, but don’t get to relax together all that much. When they do have free time, often as not, like their characters, they’ll hit the town.

You have to, because it’s quite a hard schedule, so if you can get some time off just to have a bit of a laugh, you should take it. And we do, definitely. On her own, Delamere says she doesn’t get recognised too often people quite often think they’ve met me before, but can’t place me but when they’re all together, the recognition factor is a good deal higher. People do come over when we’re out together, but they’re quite nice. They’re not too intrusive, they’re normally just amused to see us all out together, just like in the programme.

One of the secrets of the programme’s success is the closeness of the cast. Delamere maintains that being comfortable with each other can only have a beneficial effect regarding the end product on screen. It also makes the show riotously fun to work on. The first series was a really good time, but if anything the second series was probably even better, because we knew each other better as people, and who we were as characters. And we’d spent so much time with each other over the year, it was great.

Knowing the cast and crew better helps everyone relax, and a relaxed and happy set makes for good drama, or so the theory goes. There is, however, a problem: It’s known in the trade (appropriately enough in a hospital drama) as corpsing bursting into laughter at inappropriate moments during filming, and it’s something of a stock-in-trade for the No Angels cast. In the first series, one scene in particular, involving an old woman who was meant to be at death’s door but kept sitting up and talking, caused endless involuntary hilarity.

This series, the laughter was even more of a problem. It was even worse, yeah. We probably weren’t as nervous as we had been the previous year, we knew what we were doing a bit more. So it meant there was quite a lot of misbehaviour going on. There’s a scene when there’s a huge fight on the ward, and we had to re-shoot it because Sunetra [Sarker, who plays Anji] and I couldn’t stop laughing. Every one of us is in this fight, and it’s very funny. We simply couldn’t take it seriously we all end up piled on top of each other on a bed. It’s very funny.

It’s not all fun and laughter, though. The programme has a serious side, and deals with some raw emotions, which can be hard work to film. There were some emotional scenes I found really tough, admits Delamere. There’s some really hard stuff later in the series, it’s really sad, and I found that quite difficult. You have to put your mind somewhere that you may not choose to put it. You have to access stuff that you don’t really want to think about or deal with.

Other scenes were difficult to shoot for different reasons. In this series, Delamere’s character finally breaks a spell of chastity stretching back to the dark ages when she gets a boyfriend. It’s a really good story, and it’s nice to have something going so well for her. Sometimes, Lia can have a bit of a cloud hanging over her, but she cheers up a bit in this series.

Having said that, the sex scenes are really embarrassing, frankly. I didn’t really know James, who plays the character, and one of the first scenes we did together was having sex in a car. So I’m like 'Hi, nice to see you. Okay, I’m just going to put my leg here, and then this one here', that sort of thing. It’s not a natural thing to do!

And then, inevitably for a hospital-based show, there are the messy scenes. There’s a scene where I get covered in vomit, and we had to re-do it about eight or nine times. By the end, I was just covered head-to-toe in fake sick. It’s made from chicken or vegetable soup, mixed with all sorts of horrible things. It’s revolting.

Being repeatedly doused in cold soup doesn’t sound particularly pleasant, it’s true, and probably wasn’t what the younger Delamere pictured when she imagined the glamour of acting. But, then again, at least the vomit was fake. She should try comparing notes with her best friend.

The first series of No Angels proved a hit with critics and viewers alike. The show’s irreverent take on the life and loves of four nurses in Leeds was entertaining, witty, and risqué. The fact that the four featured nurses were cardiac-arrestingly gorgeous was, of course, irrelevant, though it’s true that women wanted to be them and men wanted to that women wanted to be them. The show got re-commissioned, the format was sold to America, and everyone was happy.Well, not quite everyone.The Royal College of Nursing suggested that the show was 'a missed opportunity' to show what nursing was about. It’s true that the programme doesn’t focus on the daily grind of nursing, the various complicated situations and pressures nurses face, or their struggle for the recognition and salary that they doubtless deserve, but Louise Delamere, who plays Lia Costoya, says that’s missing the point.I think you’ve got so many other shows where nursing is very, very well represented. In that context, I think being up in arms about No Angels was a complete over-reaction. It’s not really about what they do as nurses, it’s more who they are as people. They just happen to be nurses. It’s a comedy drama, not a documentary it’s not trying to be realistic, and it never set out to be.In other words, you might as well criticise Button Moon for being an unrealistic depiction of space travel. Indeed, according to Delamere, most nurses she’s spoken to actively enjoyed the programme. What happens is that off-the-record, people say very different things to what they say officially. Most nurses who I come into contact with seem to really like it they take it for what it is, which is a piece of fun with occasional deeper moments in it. Delamere’s best friend is a nurse (She thinks it’s really funny) and it soon becomes apparent that she has a great deal of respect for those in the profession. Before the first series, she and the other stars shadowed nurses to get an idea of life on the ward. I found it really humbling, because they work so hard, and because of the things they have to do. Everyone knows the plight of nurses. It’s impressive I couldn’t believe how tired we were just following them around. They properly work very hard, and it’s very impressive to witness it.

Although she’d rightly balk at the comparison with nursing, Delamere stresses that filming the series is no picnic either. The days are long, and free time is at a premium. The cast are all put up in flats in the same block, but don’t get to relax together all that much. When they do have free time, often as not, like their characters, they’ll hit the town.

You have to, because it’s quite a hard schedule, so if you can get some time off just to have a bit of a laugh, you should take it. And we do, definitely. On her own, Delamere says she doesn’t get recognised too often people quite often think they’ve met me before, but can’t place me but when they’re all together, the recognition factor is a good deal higher. People do come over when we’re out together, but they’re quite nice. They’re not too intrusive, they’re normally just amused to see us all out together, just like in the programme.

One of the secrets of the programme’s success is the closeness of the cast. Delamere maintains that being comfortable with each other can only have a beneficial effect regarding the end product on screen. It also makes the show riotously fun to work on. The first series was a really good time, but if anything the second series was probably even better, because we knew each other better as people, and who we were as characters. And we’d spent so much time with each other over the year, it was great.

Knowing the cast and crew better helps everyone relax, and a relaxed and happy set makes for good drama, or so the theory goes. There is, however, a problem: It’s known in the trade (appropriately enough in a hospital drama) as corpsing bursting into laughter at inappropriate moments during filming, and it’s something of a stock-in-trade for the No Angels cast. In the first series, one scene in particular, involving an old woman who was meant to be at death’s door but kept sitting up and talking, caused endless involuntary hilarity.

This series, the laughter was even more of a problem. It was even worse, yeah. We probably weren’t as nervous as we had been the previous year, we knew what we were doing a bit more. So it meant there was quite a lot of misbehaviour going on. There’s a scene when there’s a huge fight on the ward, and we had to re-shoot it because Sunetra [Sarker, who plays Anji] and I couldn’t stop laughing. Every one of us is in this fight, and it’s very funny. We simply couldn’t take it seriously we all end up piled on top of each other on a bed. It’s very funny.

It’s not all fun and laughter, though. The programme has a serious side, and deals with some raw emotions, which can be hard work to film. There were some emotional scenes I found really tough, admits Delamere. There’s some really hard stuff later in the series, it’s really sad, and I found that quite difficult. You have to put your mind somewhere that you may not choose to put it. You have to access stuff that you don’t really want to think about or deal with.

More on Page 2